Steven Braines and Sophia Kearney of The Weird & The Wonderful are perhaps one of the most admirable success stories in the music industry. As well as running a globally established artist management company with a roster that includes Maya Jane Coles, KDA and DJ Deeon, over the past year, they’ve put new ideas into practice exceptionally fast with a party that’s already gaining momentum in some of the world’s most important clubbing cities.

New York has always been culturally diverse, and with one of the biggest LGBTQIA+ communities in the USA, there were movements way before the 1980s, when voguing was in fashion and crossed into the mainstream. Queer storylines were breaking onto Broadway in the 1920s, and there’s Manhattan’s iconic gay club Stonewall Inn, where the legendary protests took place after police raids in ’69. One of the most proliﬁc NYC parties in the mid ’80s/early ’90s was Limelight.

“A lot of people want to experiment, but don’t feel that they have the green light to,” Braines says. “Most people want to do things, but they’re worried about social embarrassment. So if you give them a place of unconditional positive regard, where they can go and be themselves in a non-judgemental, non-prejudiced way, they can experiment, because there’s no backlash to come from it. So they can be extreme. You can wear something and decide it wasn’t for you that week or the next week, or make a mistake, and that’s ﬁ ne.

CROSS-SECTION

“This kind of night is exactly what the dance/electronic community has needed for a long time”

One of the most integral artists to the family is Maya Jane Coles. “It’s been fantastic being a resident at what I feel is one of the most important and exciting new nights in the current club world,” Maya says. “Watching He.She.They grow so rapidly in such a short space of time, and seeing the effort put in by the team, has been inspiring. This kind of night is exactly what the dance/ electronic community has needed for a long time.

Milkshake Festival has confirmed that its seventh edition will take place in Amsterdam 29th and 30th of July. The Village People, Miss Kitten, Heidi, and Riton set to spin during the two-day event.

A collaborative festival between Amsterdam’s Paradiso and AIR, Milkshake has been heralded as one of the largest and most respected LGBTQ events in the world. Championing free love, tolerance, liberalism, art, culture, entertainment, and creativity, the spectacle has been dubbed “the world’s most open mind electronic music festival”.

Accompanying the SoundCloud upload is a personal message from the influential pioneer: “To say I'm excited is an understatement. I've waited 12 years to play this festival & I guess hard work and patience have finally paid off...... Sónar Festival thank you for including me this year! Here's an exclusive mix from me to celebrate!”

XOYO has revealed The Black Madonna (real name: Marea Stamper) will be the club's next resident DJ, running from 7th April to 30th June.

Beginning the 13-week series with an all-night-long "The Body Electric" performance based around electro, EBM, industrial and techno, the Chicago DJ will play solo twice more — first offering dub, hip-hop, Miami bass and jungle at her "These Are The Breaks" party on 5th May, before focussing on house and disco on the closing night of her residency, titled "Love Is The Message".

XOYO has revealed that Heidi is the next artist to take control of their residency series, with the Canada-born selector bringing The Jackathon for eleven nights between Friday 7th October and Friday 16th December.

Speaking about the residency, a spokesperson for XOYO said, ”We’ve wanted Heidi for a long time and can’t wait to reveal who she’s invited to join her. We think they’re the strongest line-ups we’ve ever had”

Radio 1 has announced the full line-up for its annual Ibiza takeover which will see the station's DJs heading to the White Isle on Friday 5th August for an entire weekend of Ibiza-inspired shows from Ushuaia hotel.